


Burgundy Paintings and Jade Photographs

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying Mention, Dialogue Heavy, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Graffiti, Happy Ending, Humanstuck, Minor Injuries, Off-screen Relationship(s), Old Friends, POV Minor Character, abandoned places, reconciling friendship/romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 12:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6374137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been years since Damara Megido and Porrim Maryam have spoken to eachother, as the sands of time had drifted the two friends apart. A similar visit to an abandoned museum though, when one is hurt and the other sets out to help, might make their paths cross again to bring the old friends closer than ever. But it all started with the burgundy graffiti, and the jade photographs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burgundy Paintings and Jade Photographs

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N) This is a humanstuck AU that takes place about a month after Rufioh and Damara broke up. I might have taken some liberties writing this in order to test out some dynamics between characters, but I tried my best to stay true to the characters' personalities and I hope you enjoy!

If you ask some of the older people in town, many will have at least one thing to say about the abandoned Skaia Art Museum. Some people old enough to have experienced it firsthand will be quick to remember it as “One of the most beautiful places they had set eyes on”, even if it was still a wonder how such a lovely place found and lost its home in such a small city as Skaia. 

People young and careless enough to have explored it firsthand often can’t see much though, as most pieces were removed upon its closing. Often all that is left is their own graffiti, also forgotten as time bears on.

There is one work, though, that remains. It wasn’t written too long ago, but today’s the day it will be removed for the last time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~5 months prior~  
Damara looked up at the tall but otherwise narrow and unimpressive building in front of her. Knapsack filled with different colors of spray paint, and mind filled with the thought of having nothing to lose. 

She’d heard about this place from some freshmen talking at school. With mentions of hauntings, rumors of crimes committed inside the hallowed walls following its closing, and other cookie cutter explanations of abandonment littering all thought and mention of the place.

Damara didn’t care about any of that, though. She needed a place to clear her mind after the events of the past month.

She pushed those thoughts out of her brain as she assessed the doors. The main front door was obviously boarded up from the outside. Some pieces of broken glass along the inside floor, though, suggested someone had tried to shimmy their way in through the broken door. This thought wasn’t enough to make Damara shudder. It WAS enough though, to take into account personal safety as well as the possibility of making too much noise. She didn’t want to be caught vandalizing with her reputation already slandered enough.

She then sighed and looked up at the building... And saw a window with its pane removed. She smirked as she was able to point out some holes in the brick wall, as well. 

Climbing the wall took a solid seven minutes, but luckily it was a relatively low window, and Damara didn’t have any problems with the height. 

Shimmying in through the hole in the wall, she saw a wide array of graffiti. All relatively old, as some dated as far back as the sixties and the earliest was dated around 2009 (it was just some outdated symbol for a video game, or something.)

Damara stood up, and carefully picked her way through any colored glass left on the floor, stepping over places in the concrete floor with cracks or those that seemed unstable. 

She reached in her bag for the burgundy paint. She started with some basic color tests, then started plotting the grafitti. Her designs and lines were violent and bitter. She poured her heart out as each thought was written in the sharp edges of the main design. She started arranging each loop and edge in her planned pattern, creating a tangle. Her hope was her bitter thoughts could be left forever if they were beautiful to those who didn’t know what they meant, and the painting was distracting, at least. 

Then Damara heard the sound of movement behind her. And a voice. She jumped a little. She hadn’t expected anyone else to be here, as Skaia wasn’t a place where people typically went to hang out in abandoned buildings. She grabbed at the mace in her pocket, anyway.

“Calm down, I’ve heard you, but it's not like I'm the police or anything.” Damara turned to see a darker corner in the wide room, where another woman around her age stood. She looked familiar, as if they had met before, and was wearing casual skinny jeans with a black and jade hoodie. Her clothes could have been designer by how she wore them, though.  
“Who are you?” The stranger asked as she started moving closer.

Damara turned her back on the other woman.  
“Go away.” Damara uttered loudly behind her and continued painting. The woman paused for a second.  
“Damara?” She asked.  
‘Oh shit.’ Damara thought as she finally recognized the voice. She dropped the paint can and glanced to her bag lying on the ground.  
“What are you-”  
“That's none of your business, please go away.” Damara snapped.  
“Damara, I know it’s been a hard time for you over the past few months, but it’s really not safe to be here.”  
“Then why are YOU here?” Damara shot back. Porrim paused, and Damara shuffled her feet, accidentally stepping on the uneven ground.  
“LOOK OUT!” Porrim shouted. Damara felt movement under her feet as the floor started to cave in. Then everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“.....damara?...Damara?!" Porrim was standing over her when she awoke. “Can you hear me? Are you okay?” 

“...shit..” Her ankle was throbbing, and her head ached. She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. She saw she had been pulled away from the hole in the floor, but she must have hit something.

“Oh thank god you’re awake. Do you think you can walk?” Porrim asked. She had kneeled down right next to Damara.

“No. yes.” Damara replied as she took Porrim’s hand to try standing. She was a little shaky, but her ankle didn’t hurt as much as she had thought.

“Are you sure you are okay?” Porrim asked. Damara touched her left cheek and felt tears. 

“It..hurts a bit.” She grabbed her head, which throbbed slightly. Her eye caught sight of her unfinished graffiti. Porrim saw it too.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to finish right now,” Porrim linked an arm to steady Damara. “Here, my house is closer, and there’s a staircase close to here, if that’d be alright..I don't think you'll be able to finish your painting tonight..."

Damara felt more tears, but she didn’t know why. She leaned into her old friend’s arm. There was no way she was staying here and climbing down by herself, anymore. And she felt Porrim wouldn’t take no for an answer when Damara might be hurt. “That would be fine, I guess.” She finally responded. 

Porrim looked down towards Damara as they moved slowly towards the staircase and exit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kanaya is out on a date with Rose tonight, so they probably won’t be back until around 11:30.” Porrim’s voice rang out from the kitchen, popcorn sounds could be heard from the living room. “Are you sure your ankle is alright?”

“Yeah.” Damara shouted back. She felt almost out of place in here, wrapped in this warm green blanket, her bag forgotten by the door. She had already called Aradia at home and told her she’d be back in the morning. She was glad that her little sister hadn’t followed her to the museum, Aradia was a good kid, and she had sounded almost happy that Damara was hanging out with Porrim. 'Anything rather than being alone,' Damara guessed. 

Her ankle was much better, and her head had stopped hurting as well. Damara could just up and walk out of this house right now. Take her coat by the door and run back to the building, or home, or vandalize the school or something...but she didn’t really want to anymore…

“Hey.” Porrim stood in the doorway to the kitchen, the popcorn done. “Did you find a movie or something?” 

Damara looked to the remote control in her hand, and the tv that had remained on the same channel since it was turned on. She vaguely remembered telling Porrim that she wanted to watch something. She felt a weight beside her on the couch and heard the clack of the popcorn bowl on the table.  
“There wasn't anything on…” She responded. She had already spoken more today then she felt like she had in the past month.

"Damara...please talk to me." She felt Porrim's hand on her shoulder. Damara breathed in a little. She wanted a cigarette, or a blunt. But she started talking anyway.

"How long has it been?" Damara asked, distractedly. "Since we talked last?" She looked over and saw real concern in Porrim's beautiful Jade eyes. "Were we ever close, do you think?"  
Porrim went silent for a moment.

"..yes, I remember we might have been..."

"I think so too, sometimes." Damara paused for a moment, "Remember in 7th grade, when I had just moved here, when that Ampora boy wouldn't stop flirting with you at the mall?"

"And you accidentally tripped him into a fountain." Porrim chuckled a little. A smile flashing her face with the memory. Porrim felt pressure on her hand.

"I was sorry...but you were laughing..and then I was laughing…” Damara looked down and smiled a little, she was holding Porrim's hand. “I loved spending time with you back then, I guess.”

“Yes, I enjoyed my time with you as well, even if you were a bit reserved.”

“But then, in 9th grade, I started hanging with those weeaboo kids...they were all fine but...I'm sorry we didn't really talk much anymore..” Then she became serious. "But it wasn't really my fault, though, you know." She felt angry tears starting to well in her eyes again. "I didn't ask for...this, or Rufioh, or Meenah...never ever."

"I know, I know..." Porrim patted Damara's hand, and drew her close.

"She just...UGH!” Damara took a pillow from the couch and threw it across the room. "I could just strangle them all! How could he!? How DARE she!?" Her makeup was probably streaking down her face by now, but she didn't care. She wiped her eyes and they came away with red eyeliner, her breathing was too fast, she collapsed back on the couch. “I gave him all of me, and I thought I loved him, but THIS is how he repays me? By going off with someone else!? I want to make them pay for what they did sometimes. I Want to make them pay! But just...just fuck them, you know?" Damara couldn't even express how she felt, it was just too much. Everything flowed like sand from a sieve. Did it even make sense anymore?

Porrim stayed quiet for a second, while Damara wasn't looking at her. She seemed to almost be talking to herself. Her eye makeup painted her face like war paint. She was still so beautiful though. Porrim rewound her fingers into Damara's as she squeezed her hand.  
"Is that why your graffiti was so-”

”Violent? Yeah, i guess..." Damara sniffed and wiped her eyes again. "I used to paint trees, you know...cherry blossoms were my favorites.” Damara reminisced. “And I don't even care if you use this to blackmail me. Go ahead, Maryam.”

And Porrim felt angry all of the sudden. She wished she had known. Wished she had known how this poor girl was feeling. Wished she could have been there from the very beginning. 

She had seen Damara at school for weeks before, not even drawing any notice when the girl had stopped talking. Had the years she had known Damara been nothing? What if she had been too late in the end?

"You're right." Porrim said, she looked off to the corner. "Fuck them. This was never your fault, you didn't deserve any of this happening to you...They were being idiotic, and they don't deserve someone as special as you." She took a breath and looked into Damara's deep brown, almost burgundy eyes. “And I would absolutely never blackmail you for this. That would be despicable. You're still my friend, after all this time, and I still love you.”

Damara couldn't remember the last time Porrim, or anyone for that matter, had said anything inherently against either Meenah or Rufioh, especially on her behalf. Especially since Meenah had started spreading those awful rumors about her before her and Rufioh's breakup. It felt nice, actually, letting all the buried feelings out, and being supported for them. Damara then remembered her question, back from when they had first found each other in the unstable building.

"So, what were you doing there?" Damara asked. "At the old museum." 

"Oh, nothing."

"No, you need to tell me." 

"Well..." Porrim pulled an expensive looking jade-colored camera from the table. "Mostly just these." Photos dotted the screen, each one a distinct spot in the museum. "I was in another room when I heard you. But these were what I was working on." 

One of a destroyed statue, some of rearrangement of glass, some of the graffiti itself. They were all normal, but they were all magnificent. The lighting was perfectly balanced to each frame. The objects seemed so dynamic they were almost alive. Porrim's eye for detail had left them perfect. You could never tell that all the subjects weren't meant to be that way."

"You're a photographer?" Damara questioned. Porrim shrugged in response.

"It was a hobby at first, but I guess I ended up loving it." Porrim had obvious pride in her voice.

This made Damara think back to years ago. Porrim Maryam, the girl who could accomplish any craft, who made sweaters and sewed and always had a project. Who always had a boy or girl to take to the dance, but still always had time for those who didn't. Maybe she just spent time with Damara back then because she was too nice, or because Damara was lonely, but at the time neither of them had cared. Could it ever be like that again? She wondered.

Now Porrim had this hobby, but it was secret. It was personal and special to her, seeing the beauty in everything. Damara felt a deep pang of emotion for the Jade-eyed girl. 

"Well." Damara stuttered, "they're beautiful."

"Oh, thank you, Damara. I think your painting was beautiful."

"oh yeah, yeah." Damara chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"No, I mean it! You really do have a real eye for design. Maybe you could let me take some pictures of your paintings sometime?" 

Damara looked up to Porrim's Jade green eyes, and blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Yeah, sure...that would be good, if you really want to." She answered. "Just maybe not...that one." Porrim gave a smile, and inched a little closer to Damara subconsciously, getting under the blanket with her.

"You know, I do remember thinking it was a bit weird that you had climbed through the window to one of the least stable rooms on that second floor."

"Oh, hush Maryam!" 

"I'm joking!" Porrim giggled. Her eyelids started to droop a bit as she let out a yawn and Damara sighed.

"I wish I would have been with someone as nice as you, sometimes..."

"You wha-” Porrim started, only to been enveloped in a giant hug. 

"Anyway, thanks for listening after all this time.”

They stayed like that for a while, and said nothing. They felt warmed in each other's arms, their heartbeats synced together, the world silenced around them. 

“I'm not going to tell anyone, you know.”

“I know. You're too nice to me.” Porrim could almose hear the smile in Damara’s voice, as both of their eyes dropped close, and they fell asleep in eachother’s arms. 

The last thought on either one’s mind as they drifted off, ‘maybe this could work out.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~Present day/5 months later~

The streets of Skaia city were much quieter at night, being rather small and crime being so low, but the evening before the lull was much better when joined with someone you love. With their left arms linked together, each holding a carton of paint-filled eggs in their right, the two now-girlfriends ascended the stairs.

“You know, Damara, I almost thought you were going to forget about this place, or at least this side of it.” Porrim laughed a bit. 

“Not while we still have this to do!” Damara shot back. 

They found the doorway to the room relatively easy, though they usually steered clear of it on their usual outings. Maybe they skipped the museum entirely on some days, but Damara still painted in her journal.

“Okay, on three.” They both held up a paint-filled egg in their hands

“One...two...three!” They shouted together, and the old violent painting was covered with the colors of burgundy and jade. Each sharp edge was melted away until it was as faded as a memory, by the time they were done the entire wall was a swirl of colors. It looked definitely messy, but beautiful at the same time. The evening sunset reflected like a dream on the colors. There was the click of the camera in Porrim’s hands.

“Now that’s makes for a cute picture!” She remarked, and she felt a soft peck on her forehead.

“Happy five month anniversary.” Damara said. Her smile was more carefree now. It had taken months, but she was finally happy again. Granted, there was still nights she cried, and still people who made odd faces at her in the cafeteria, and there was still Rufioh, and Horuss, and Meenah, as there might always be, but that was behind the two of them now. These two were free, and they were together, and they had made it. “I love you, Porrim.”

“I love you too, Damara.” Porrim said back. All the sharp edges were gone with the painting, all the hatchets and grudges buried. All the memories between the two women restored.

“And I think I always will.”


End file.
